Arizona's Rep David Schweikert letter to President Obama
Washington, D.C., June 17, 2014—Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ) wrote a letter to the President, Tuesday, calling for the deployment of the National Guard to southwest border entrances. The release of this letter follows the overwhelming surge of unaccompanied minors crossing the southwest border without papers, resources, and guardians.
“Thanks to your Administration’s failure to enforce United States immigration law, our Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents are being overwhelmed by the current surge in illegal immigration. The drastic increase and persistently high number of Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) being apprehended and detained by agents along our border is causing resources to be diverted away from other Department of Homeland Security (DHS) missions, stretching the CBP thin, and causing a potentially devastating impact on our national security,” reads the letter.
“The sheer scale of illegal immigration is compromising DHS capabilities to address other transnational criminal activities such as human and drug trafficking. There is no longer time to wait and see. Action must be immediately taken. Refusal to do so will have dire consequences to our national security,” the letter continues.
BACKGROUND: In recent weeks, the southwest borders of Arizona and Texas have seen record numbers of Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) cross the border. Cramped and overcrowded shelters have led to a shortage in housing resources, causing the Customs and Border Control (CBP) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHC) to find alternative housing locations for children and other migrants. In the last two weeks alone, over 1,000 unaccompanied minors were sent to Arizona’s Nogales facility from Texas because of overcrowding.
The UAC program is responsible for medical care, temporary housing, and counseling services. Last year, nearly 25,000 minors entered into the United States without any guardianship. As many as 80,000 more children are estimated to cross the border without family or guardianship by the end of this fiscal year.
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